THE WEALTH OF NATIONS.

787

press queen.* The survey of the duchy of Milan, which wasbegun in the time of Charles VI . was not perfected till after1700. It is esteemed one of the most accurate that has everbeen made. The survey of Savoy and Piedmont was exe-cuted under the orders of the late king of Sardinia. "]'

In the dominions of the king of Prussia the revenue of thechurch is taxed much higher than that of lay proprietors.The revenue of the church is, the greater part of it, a burdenupon the rent of land. It seldom happens that any part ofit is applied towards the improvement of land ; or is so em-ployed as to contribute in any respect towards increasing therevenue of the great body of the people. His Prussian ma-jesty had probably, upon that account, thought it reasonable,that it should contribute a good deal more towards relievingthe exigencies of the state. In some countries the lands ofthe church are exempted from all taxes. In others they aretaxed more lightly than other lands. In the duchy of Milan,the lands which the church possessed before 1575, are ratedto the tax at a third only of their value.

In Silesia, lands held by a noble tenure are taxed three percent, higher than those held by a base tenure. The honoursand privileges of ditferent kinds annexed to the former, hisPrussian majesty had probably imagined, would sutlicientlycompensate to the proprietor a small aggravation of the tax;while at the same time the humiliating inferiority of the lat-ter would be in some measure alleviated by being taxed some-what more lightly. In other countries, the system of taxa-tion, instead of alleviating, aggravates this inequality. Inthe dominions of the king of Sardinia , and in those provincesot h ranee which are subject to what is called the real or pre-dial taille, the tax falls altogether upon the lands held by abase tenure. Those held by a noble one are exempted.

A land-tax assessed according to a general survey and va-luation, how ccpial soever it may be at first, must, in thecourse of a very moderate period of time, become unequal,lo prevent its becoming so would require the continual andpainful attention of government to all the variations in thestate and produce of every different farm in the country. Thegovernments of Prussia, ot Bohemia, of Sardinia , and of theduchy of Milan, actually exert an attention of this kind; anattention so unsuitable to the nature of government, that it is

* Mcninirca conccrnant los Droits, &c. tome i. p. 88, 81.t til. p. 280, &c. also p. 287, &c. to S16.